1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a sign apparatus and more particularly to an illuminated sign apparatus that has at least two sides wherein multiple, individual signs are capable of being stored and are interchangeable when in use.
2. Description of Prior Art
Most of the prior art in this area are devices that have signs that cannot specifically be chosen when they are to be displayed. Instead, the signs are in a predetermined order, sometimes even in stacks or lines, and are displayed according to the order in which they appear. Such is the case with he patent for a "Display Device" issued to Mathews, U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,545, which is directed to a display for advertisement cards wherein a card is displayed for a period of time and then withdrawn and another card is displayed. A card is displayed and then picked up, lifted over the remaining cards and lowered back down at the back of the remaining cards, hence rotating the card to the end of the rotation. In this device, the cards are picked up by blocks, which are connected to chains, and carried through a rotation before being placed at the end of the remaining cards which are queued for viewing. This device does not have a gripper element that actually grips a sign and lifts it from its stored location and places it in an aperture for viewing and then replaces the sign back in the same storage location as it was previously stored in as in the present invention.
The Cox patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,417, entitled "Automatic Viewer" is directed to an advertising media that automatically displays advertisements in a sequential relationship to one another. The Cox device is a display that elevates one of a stack of signs into a window and then removes it to the back of the stack of signs while simultaneously replacing the sign being viewed. The signs are elevated with a series of roller elements.
The patent issued to Irasek, U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,055, discloses a "Random Access Storage and Retrieval Device" wherein a plurality of items in holders such as film chips or visual slides can be stored and retrieved for viewing upon command. The items are retrieved by a picker bar which engages and grips the holder of the selected item and withdraws the holder from the stack. When returned to the stack, the holder is placed either on the top or the bottom of the stack, thus the holders ultimately end up in a random orientation to one another. The holders are identified by address bars.
The "Display Device" described in the patent issued to Offsay, U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,766, is for a display that houses a series of cards which can be displayed. The cards are stacked in the lower part of the display and a movable arm is lowered wherein it drops the card that was previously displayed onto the top of the pile, pushes the pile up so that the card on the bottom of the pile comes into contact with the movable arm, then the movable arm lifts the bottom card up to the display position. At the end of the duration of displaying the card, the entire process is repeated, thus lowering the displayed card to the top of the pile and raising the bottom card to the display position. In this display, always the bottom card is raised to the display position and replaced to the top of the pile when no longer displayed. Therefore, the cards are always displayed in the order they are located in the pile.
While the above stated devices are a fair representation of the current prior art, there remains room for improvement as defined by the currently claimed invention.